Many Ohio State fans are increasingly focused on the football team’s offensive line recruiting. However, while there hasn’t been much news on that front recently, a surge of predictions favoring the Buckeyes emerged on the defensive side of the line on Tuesday.
Ohio State recruiting expert Bill Kurelic made the first commitment prediction for four-star defensive lineman Jarquez Carter. This was soon followed by predictions from 247Sports’ national recruiting analyst Tom Loy and Gaby Urrutia from InsideTheU. The Florida native is set to announce his commitment on Thursday, July 18, just before 2 p.m. ET.
Carter, a rising senior at Newberry High School in Newberry, Florida, stands at 6-foot-2 and weighs 284 pounds. The mutual interest between Carter and the Buckeyes has been strong for a while, and it was solidified during his official visit to Columbus in mid-June.
🌰 @R2X_Rushmen1 @CoachLCTrenches pic.twitter.com/kpkgNmWh7k
— Jarquez Carter (@JarquezCarter) June 28, 2024
Carter currently has offers from 37 schools, including Miami, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Alabama, Penn State, Colorado, LSU, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas A&M, USC, Washington, and more. Over the summer, he visited the Miami Hurricanes, Penn State Nittany Lions, UCF Knights, and Florida Gators in addition to the Buckeyes.
Ranked as the No. 395 player in the 2025 recruiting class and the No. 42 defensive lineman according to 247Sports Composite Rankings, Carter is considered the No. 54 player from Florida. Notably, last month, he completed 27 bench press reps to win the championship belt at Rival’s Five-Star camp.
Miami recruiting target, DT @JarquezCarter wins bench press competition at @Rivals Five -star pushing 27 reps 💪🏽https://t.co/wGeDoBCaHP pic.twitter.com/IMhGNOgZo3
— Marcus Benjamin (@BenjaminRivals) June 26, 2024
If Carter commits to OSU tomorrow, he will join a defensive line recruiting class featuring fellow four-stars Zion Grady, Zahir Mathis, London Merritt, Maxwell Roy, and Trajen Odom.
Ohio State currently sits atop 247Sports’ class rankings, with Alabama, Georgia, Oregon, and Notre Dame rounding out the top five.
